Mobile and social channels may be the key drivers of e-commerce growth this year, according to Monetate. The firm notes that mobile commerce, in particular, experienced a period of healthy growth and activity during the 2014 holiday season. During this time, mobile purchases increased by 45% over what they had been during the time period of 2013. Approximately 16% of all e-commerce traffic came from mobile devices as well, making mobile a valuable channel for the larger digital commerce space. Monetate notes that mobile experiences are improving, which is making it more likely for consumers to participate in mobile payments in some way. 

Convenience chain Wawa is attempting to compete with brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks by launching a new mobile application featuring a payment function and rewards program. The new Wawa app, which is available for Android and iOS devices, enables consumers to earn rewards points for purchases made at any of its 680 bricks-and-mortar stores, as well as pay for orders within the app. Users can also check nutritional information of various items, look up store hours and directions, and view up-to-date fuel prices.

As mobile commerce has been picking up at a substantial rate, retailers in brick and mortar locations have been concerned that consumers may begin to be lured online by the ability to shop for a better deal, no matter where they are, instead of heading out to real world stores. This trend has shown itself in the research of several companies that have been looking into mobile commerce, including Telefonica SA, Tumblr, and Yahoo Inc. This was announced at the Digital Life Design conference that was recently held in Munich, Germany. Though the last few years have shown a greater growth in …

Charities play an important role tackling all manner of medical and societal issues, but without donations many would cease to operate. To ensure a steady stream of funding, some send representatives into Britain's high streets to encourage giving, generally annoying people in the process. In a bid to move away from "chuggers" (charity muggers) and collection boxes, Cancer Research UK has looked to contactless payments. In four outlets located in Brighton, Kensington, Guildford and Marylebone, the charity has placed a contactless payment point in store windows, letting people passing donate a fixed fee of £2 by tapping their contactless card …

Mobile apps have a lot of potential uses, but in 2015 retailers will likely focus on consumer engagement. According to the 2015 E-commerce Industry Outlook report from performance marketing technology company Criteo, 42% of retail executives and ad agencies rank consumer engagement as the primary goal of mobile app strategies. Other Criteo predictions, based on data insights from billions of online transactions, include: Enhancing cross-device capabilities will be a major focus as 58% of retail executives and ad agencies rank the technology as the most important of their 2015 mobile marketing efforts.

The Metro Transit Authority (MTA) of New York City actively used the MetroCard for payment purposes. But it is poised to replace this payment system with a new contactless payment system. This revelation came forth from the minutes of a capital program oversight committee meeting, as reported by Business Insider. The new contactless payment system may even extend beyond MTA to other New York transit agencies as well. Contactless payments are poised to arrive to buses first, then subways. Vending machines would be setup for the same by 2022. The cost of replacing the old MetroCard based system has been …

Gilt and Rue La La are retrofitting their applications with new features and functionality such as free early access to sales and pre-sellout notifications that reflect big expectations from the platforms in the year ahead. The brands’ flash-sale apps have been updated in the past month, a check of the Apple App store reveals. Besides reflecting an attempt to respond to customer feedback, the changes speak to an effort to satisfy shoppers who have become more comfortable with mobile spending and expect even greater shopping convenience.

China has become one of the world’s leading mobile commerce markets, surpassing the United States in terms of mobile transactions. This may be due to the difference that exist between the two countries, especially when it comes to population. Chinese consumers have also shown that they are more willing to participate in mobile commerce, having a higher degree of comfort with mobile technology. Chinese companies have been quite aggressive with their promotion of mobile payments as well, encouraging consumers to use their devices when paying for products online and offline. China is home to approximately 520 million mobile consumers, which is significantly …

More than 770 million biometric authentication applications are expected to be downloaded per year by 2019, up from just six million this year, pointing to the possible extinction of alphanumeric passwords, according to a new report from Juniper Research.  A game changer in this space, Apple’s Touch ID capability has highlighted even more the hassle associated with remembering long, complicated passwords. As these become more unreliable when matched against today’s hackers, marketers can take advantage of biometric authentication to provide a more seamless user experience. 

Lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret has added a new component to its digitally enabled catalogs that entices consumers to take a quiz to see their ideal bra size, type and fit, boosting its mobile merchandising capabilities in time for Valentine’s Day. For years, retailers have incorporated mobile elements to their print catalogs to offer second-screen experiences and entice shoppers to dive deeper into their brands. Victoria’s Secret is bumping up this effort with an easily accessible quiz that offers more than merely additional content.